This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for holding and positioning film for making x-rays, thermographs and other types of images, and in particular it relates to obtaining such images when patients can not be moved from their beds, but must have the procedure performed in situ.
Some types of medical conditions make it difficult for patients to be moved once they have assumed a desired position in bed, either due to the fact that they have serious injuries, they are unconscious, or because they would experience severe pain if they were moved. For example, patients with certain types of arthritis experience severe pain when they are placed on an unyielding surface such as a typical x-ray table, or when they are required to move even a small amount. In these circumstances, many procedures must be performed while the patient remains in bed.
When patients in this condition are lying on a bed of a soft compressible nature, technicians taking images, such as x-rays, frequently incur difficulty in placing the film in the proper position to obtain the desired image of an inflicted portion of the patient's body. This is particularly true if the patient is heavy and locally compresses the surface of the bed substantially so that uncompressed portions of the bed prevent placing the film at the desired location. Faced with this type of situation, technicians frequently resort to one or more of several strategems for placing the film holder in the proper locations for good exposure.
One such technique for placing the film holder in the optimum position adjacent to that portion of the patient of which it is desired to obtain a picture, is to place heavy objects, such as sand bags, alongside the film holder so as to depress the uncompressed portions of the bed sufficiently to enable the film holder to be perfectly placed for the desired exposure.
If satisfactory objects are not available, or if there is not sufficient room on the bed to place them appropriately, the technician often will sit on or press the bed down adjacent to the film holder to obtain the desired amount of compression of the mattress so that the film holder can be properly placed for the desired exposure. This latter technique is highly undesirable for the technician because it may result in unnecessary exposure to x-ray radiation.
What is needed, therefore, is some means of compressing the bed alongside of the patient, and thereby permitting placement of the film, which does not require placement of heavy objects on the bed or the personal intervention of the technician during exposure. Several film holders have been developed which could possibly be used to solve this problem, but since they were designed for other purposes, they all have shortcomings which make them unsuitable for the subject purpose.
For example, one device provides a dolly which can be wheeled into position alongside of the bed and the wheels locked. A film holder, carried by the dolly, can be extended laterally to reach the patient and adjusted vertically to the desired height, and then clamped into position. However, because the device is made to be easily portable, it is not heavy enough so that the film holder can be adjusted to compress the bed sufficiently to obtain the desired image. In addition, a device of this type which was of sufficient weight to properly compress the bed would be unwieldy to move about.
Other film holders, which are more portable, are designed to permit exposure of young children, which sit on the base of the fixture while it rests on a table. This type of device can also be used to permit exposure of adults by supporting the film in a desired location relative to a seated patient. However, devices of this type do not provide the necessary degree of adjustability to hold a bed in compression and place the film holder in the desired location.